Breast Cancer Support

Please check this page regularly for new and updated event details plus the latest press releases.

On September 29th we hold our 5th AGM, nearly five years of serving the community and making our charity synonymous with all things related to breast cancer and breast care. 2010/11 has been another busy year lobbying the GHA in order to improve and increase breast cancer care services in Gibraltar. We meet regularly with the Minister, the GHA’s CEO and the Medical Director, and also with the Breast Care Nurse and Deputy Director for Nursing Services, to ensure we are kept informed of progress or to address any concerns there may be. It’s been a year of continuous support, giving information and raising awareness among those affected by breast cancer in Gibraltar, with a little bit of fund-raising on the side!

We are thrilled to say that the GHA’s Breast Screening Programme (BSP) started in January of this year after a 3 month pilot run; this was our main objective for setting up our charity. The women being invited for a mammogram will include all women aged over 40 and we believe they are now screening those aged 50-55, the 56-64 age group have already been screened. Within the next 6-9 months all eligible women will have been screened in this first round of the BSP. The images are sent to King’s College Hospital Trust electronically, and are double-read by breast radiologists there; the results are back with the women within two weeks of having their mammogram, this is all within the NICE guidelines. The uptake rate is now at around 88%, compared to an average of 73% in the UK, we hope this figure will get closer to 100% after all eligible women are screened in their first cycle.

We welcome the work and the close relationship the GHA has with Clinica Radon, which means that all new breast patients receive all their care and treatment in Gibraltar and nearby, unless they request immediate reconstruction after a mastectomy, which means going to the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. Existing UK-treated breast cancer patients still have their five years honoured in the UK and after that, when they are discharged, they will be referred back to the Breast Clinic at St Bernard’s hospital for continued follow-up checks or referred into our own BSP.

We welcome the news by the Minister for Health, in her Budget speech, that offering chemotherapy services in Gibraltar are being explored, plus the possibility of the GHA purchasing an MRI machine. Both these services will help enhance the experience of breast cancer patients while on their treatment journey locally.

The GHA now has a ‘genetic counselling and referral policy’ for those who are diagnosed with rare familial or genetic diseases, these patients can now be referred to genetic clinics in the UK which help patients understand the risks they face and the choices they may have to face; in our case it means helping women with the rare BrCa1, BrCa2 or TP53 faulty genes.

We again supported the midwives in their ‘Breast-feeding Awareness Week’ and the Pathology Dept in their international conference held in Gibraltar.

Areas of focus for us to next lobby the GHA about are: the development of a proper breast cancer-related lymphoedema service and the increase in surgery services including an exclusive dedicated surgeon for breast-related disease.

After successful meetings between us, the Breast Care Nurse (BCN) and the Deputy Director for Nursing Services, the breast clinic now runs the prostheses service for which the charity has purchased prostheses, three dressing gowns and a cupboard to keep the prostheses in.

The BCN also continues to order headscarves for chemotherapy patients, and these too are funded by the charity; the charity has bought six wig stands for her (to display wigs donated to the charity), she also orders information leaflets and resources for patients to ensure they have all the information they need before entering their clinical pathway of treatment and recovery.

We have also ordered for the BCN many mastectomy wear catalogues so she can hand these out to women who do not wish for reconstruction and can purchase intimate and bathing wear to suit their needs.

We have sent our BCN and a member of the Physiotherapy Department to Manchester on a course for ‘Tru-Life’ prostheses-fitting and we also sent the two clinic nurses in general surgery on a Breast Cancer Care UK course on rare forms of breast cancer

This year we bought the Pathology Laboratory a mobile microscope with a screen for £15K, to be used at multi-disciplinary meetings when discussing individual patients; this ensures the pathologist can visually show all present the cellular pathology of disease and the team can discuss how best to treat the patient (BCN, surgeon, oncologist, radiologist, pathologist).

Our charity has already committed to purchasing half an ultrasound machine for the One-Stop Breast Clinic Service aspect of the Radiology Department; this will cost us in the region of £50K.

We still continue to buy wigs for chemotherapy hair-loss (up to £200 per wig) from the hair salon ‘Hairspray’ and wait for the GHA to offer prescriptions for wigs for all chemotherapy patients.

This year we made contact with ‘Breakthrough Breast Cancer’ in the UK, a pioneering charity saving lives and changing futures through research, campaigning and education, and I visited their labs at the ‘National Institute for Cancer’, next door to the Royal Marsden Hospital. The aim was to establish another ‘expert’ point of contact for future reference and support, to order their leaflets for distribution around Gibraltar and to seek their opinion on the Epidemiological Study commissioned by the Gibraltar Government.

Breakthrough concurred with our opinion of the results of the Study that breast cancer figures in Gibraltar were within the normal range for Europe, showed up as ‘higher’ than other cancers in Gibraltar thanks to quick and accessible diagnosis with the GHA’s dedicated breast cancer One-Stop Clinic and its own in-house breast radiologist. Our advice on the impact of environmental factors on breast cancer incidence was, and still remains, as that of ‘Breakthrough Breast Cancer’, ‘Breast Cancer Care’ and ‘Cancer Research’ that they have little impact on breast cancer and that this disease is mainly attributed to oestrogen and lifestyle choices that affect oestrogen levels.

We are thrilled to say that we were instrumental in helping the new charity ‘Prostate Cancer Support Group Gibraltar’ in getting off the ground. We passed on all our documentation and merchandising ideas for them to copy, discussed priorities and the ‘dos and don’ts’ of setting up a charity, and basically helped them on their way to set up the charity they are now, which is already making valuable strides within our community. We are proud to call them our ‘brother charity’. We are also in the process of assisting Mr Safwat Tosson, one of the GHA’s new gynaecologists/obstetricians, in his setting up of a new incontinence support group/charity. He specialises in this area and feels the women of Gibraltar need more support, advice and help with this very sensitive and embarrassing condition.

This year we again supported the ‘We Care’ Project, the Walk for Life, Leukaemia ‘Forget-me-Not’ walk, the Yellow walk for Mental Health and the ‘Relay for Life’ organised by Cancer Research UK – Gibraltar Branch, the Polar Bear swim at Catalan Bay and the MOD Pamper Evening.

We donated £1,500 to the Gibraltar Community Association last Christmas, £5,000 to the ‘Thumbs Up’ campaign of the Gibraltar Society for Cancer Relief and £1,000 to Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

18th October – Mayor Alcantara and Minister Reyes paid tribute to all the cancer charities in Gibraltar, and their volunteers for their tireless work in raising money and awareness locally. In his speech the mayor said, “Kindness, compassion, and care speak so much for a community. At the start of my mandate as Mayor of this great community of ours, I made a pledge to say thank you, on behalf of all of us, to a whole series of generous and committed individuals that quietly and unassumingly go through life giving selfless service to other souls in need – to all of you here, and to the many we have not reached, thank you,”.

22nd October 2011 Walk for life 11am in aid of Cancer research. Registration at 9am in Casemates.

5 November 201 Dinner & Dance, with fashion show and auction, at the Caleta Hotel in aid of our charity. Tickets at £45 from Hearts Boutique. For more information call 54032117 or email rweston@reene.co.uk

Charity Fair in May , three of our committee attended a Kusuma Trust organised training day, given by Cathy Shimmin from the Directory of Social Change in the UK. This took place at the JMH and was on Charity management and sustainability, it proved very interesting and useful to the work we already do. On the 13th November more committee members from BCSG will be attending a Chairty Fair once again organised by the Kusuma Trust to focus on the future of the charity.

Saturday 26th November, 5pm at the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned - Light a Candle Mass, with the traditional mulled wine and mince pies after at the Casino Calpe.

Finally, our monthly ‘Support Group Meetings’ will be starting in the New Year, once the new Lady Williams Centre is finished and we arrange use of their premises again. Please look out for our news on FaceBook page.

Click here to download a word document version of the full review.

Isobel meets the Breakthrough scientists

The Prostate Cancer Support Group Gibraltar Launch

The WE CARE project very kindly giving us a cheque for £2740 at a beautiful presentation ceremony at the Mons Calpe Suite. Thank you so much for your generosity from all the team at BSCG.

No Need To Be Alarmed

Breast Cancer Support Gibraltar welcomes the findings of the Epidemiological Study and are heartened that cancer incidence rates in Gibraltar are at the EU average. Despite the higher than average breast cancer rates, the charity asks women not to be alarmed as they reflect incidence rates comparable to UK, USA and Denmark, figures they have always assumed and worked with. The charity has always informed women that the lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is 1 in 8 or 9 for a woman who lives to be 90; this is reflected in the Study.

As for risk, the charity always looks to Breast Cancer Care UK for expert information and has always understood that breast cancer is not affected adversely by lifestyle choices, as opposed to lung cancer, for example, which is greatly increased from smoking. There are three main absolute risk factors that affect breast cancer: gender, being a woman is the single biggest risk factor for developing breast cancer; increasing age, 80% of breast cancers are in women over 50 as they have been exposed for longer to oestrogen over their lifetime (oestrogen triggers about 80% of breast cancers); and family history, 5-10% of breast cancers are triggered by one of three faulty genes.

Other known relative risks that may slightly increase the risk of developing breast cancer are being overweight, especially after menopause, and drinking more alcohol than the recommended daily amount. The Epidemiological Study gives some possible reasons for higher incidence of breast cancer in Gibraltar in terms of exposure (by air) to PAH, arsenic & nickel or exposure to 'endocrine disrupting compounds' such as pesticides, plastics and building materials, possibly inhaled from spending more time indoors.

Isolating pollutants in the environment as independent variables and measuring their effect on a general population, with all the necessary valid controls in place, is very difficult, therefore as non-scientists or non-health professionals, Breast Cancer Support is reluctant to comment further on this. They are however reviewing the report and will be sending it to their colleagues at Breast Cancer Care in the UK for their expert opinion.
Breast Cancer Support Gibraltar notes with interest that 96% of breast cancers are in the 40+ age-group. This concurs with the age-range of Gibraltar's new routine Breast Screening Programme for all women over 40, today's news highlights its importance more than ever. The charity continues to actively encourage women to attend routine screening when invited.

Click here to download a word document explaining the risks in more detail.

Our Dream Has Become A Reality!

Breast Cancer Support Gibraltar welcomes the announcement by the GHA of the start of Gibraltar's routine Breast Screening Programme (BSP). These last three years the charity has worked very hard and lobbied the GHA for the delivery of this vital service.

Breast Cancer Support Gibraltar are glad the pilot programme was successful, with a turnout of about 92% women (compared to about 74% in the UK) and hope that these figures are increased to 100% attendance, or at least maintained as they are.

Breast screening has very real benefits: it clearly reduces mortality, in Gibraltar this would mean saving about 3 to 4 lives every 10 years, and it means that cancers too small to be felt or seen by women or their doctors will be detected at an earlier stage, increasing the rate of successful treatment and survivability. Furthermore, a more extensive BSP than in the UK offered to younger and older women and more frequently, further reduces mortality as shown in numerous studies, which the UK is considering in order to review their own screening services

As in Guernsey, the GHA has a remote reading service contract with Kings College London NHS Trust. This means that the breast images from the 100 or so weekly mammograms are sent electronically to Kings College, read by two independent breast radiologists and then the results are sent back to the women within three weeks. This is a great service, well within the recommended timeframe and free from interference from day-to-day interruptions of a busy Radiology Department.

Women also need to know the facts surrounding a BSP so they can make an informed choice when invited. There is no denying that screening carries its risks of false positives or negatives (about 7-10% of women screened) and about 0.5% of women will receive unnecessary treatment, as with any medical investigations, however the Charity is also very pleased that the GHA now has a full-time breast radiologist who will be addressing these issues by referring to other diagnostic tools at his disposal.

The charity encourages all women to attend routine screening when invited and to please contact them with queries or any further information if required.

‘PINK PARTY’ A RESOUNDING SUCCESS – ‘BREAST CANCER SUPPORT GIBRALTAR’ THANKS THEIR FRIENDS

Breast Cancer Support Gibraltar held its Pink Party on Saturday 8th October which was a huge success. The Central Hall, decorated beautifully by the DSA Sequence Dance Club, was packed to capacity with mainly women, all wearing an item of pink clothing, and enjoying the wonderful food prepared by Mohammed ...from the Yacht Club and dancing to the dulcet tones of the group ‘Our Way’. 45 prizes were up for grabs in the raffle, all donated by very generous people and companies in Gibraltar.

The aim of the non-profit making ‘Pink Party’ is for the charity to spend time with members and friends, giving a little something back for their support. With the help and support of the public, the charity has managed to keep its profile high and has successfully raised awareness and supported many families these last five years, so much so that Breast Cancer Support Gibraltar is synonymous with breast disease. The charity has managed to dispel some of the fears and taboos surrounding breast cancer and raised about £300,000 to buy resources and equipment for the people of Gibraltar.

Most importantly, the charity has managed to carry the GHA along with it in its vision of improved and increased breast cancer care services, especially with the introduction of the Breast Screening Programme and the employment of a Breast Care Nurse. The ‘Pink Party’ is a way of saying “thank you” to all those who support the charity and who believe in it.

Many thank you’s need to be said here specifically for:

The Ministry of Culture for allowing free use of the Central Hall; Lifetime Insurance for insuring the event for us for free; Mohammed for his hard work and great prices for the food; ‘Our Way’ for the free musical entertainment of the night, Marie Montegriffo, Christopher Montegriffo & Ernest Borrell; Lupe & Jimmy Perez, Nora Flores, Sylvana Jurado & Luis Consigliero for loaning and decorating the Central Hall so beautifully; Gibelflora & Nancy Vinales for the beautiful table decorations; Saverland for the discount on tableware; The Liquid company for designing & printing the event tickets for free; Larbi for the free bar-work, he refused payment in memory of his wife who died of breast cancer over ten years ago and Jimmy, Pepe & Ricky for helping Larbi; Nikki’s Bakes, Clarissa Payas & Sonia Stagno for the delicious flans; and Dion Hammond for the photography.

And thanks for all the wonderful prizes donated by: Hairspray Salon, S M Seruya and Healing Therapies (Celia Garcia), GibMaroc, Lewis Stagnetto, GibOil, La Senza, DeSally, Gibtelecom, The Ship, Marisela Wood, Saccone & Speed, La Mamela, Coco’s Hair & Beauty Salon, La Femme, Hairspray, Celia Garcia, Don Gold, Richard’s Salon, Jo Isola, Virgin Vie, Paul Cosquieri, John Culatto, Gino Sanguinetti, Karl Ullger & Hollie Buhagiar.from the Yacht Club and dancing to the dulcet tones of the group ‘Our Way’. 45 prizes were up for grabs in the raffle, all donated by very generous people and companies in Gibraltar.

Many thank yous need to be said here specifically for:

The Ministry of Culture for allowing free use of the Central Hall; Lifetime Insurance for insuring the event for us for free; Mohammed for his hard work and great prices for the food; ‘Our Way’ for the free musical entertainment of the night, Marie Montegriffo, Christopher Montegriffo & Ernest Borrell; Lupe & Jimmy Perez, Nora Flores, Sylvana Jurado & Luis Consigliero for loaning and decorating the Central Hall so beautifully; Gibelflora & Nancy Vinales for the beautiful table decorations; Saverland for the discount on tableware; The Liquid company for designing & printing the event tickets for free; Larbi for the free bar-work, he refused payment in memory of his wife who died of breast cancer over ten years ago and Jimmy, Pepe & Ricky for helping Larbi; Clarissa Payas & Sonia Stagno for the delicious flans; and Dion Hammond for the photography.

And thanks for all the wonderful prizes donated by: GibMaroc, Lewis Stagnetto, GibOil, La Senza, DeSally, Serruya, Gibtelecom, The Ship, Marisela Wood, Saccone & Speed, La Mamela, Coco’s Hair & Beauty Salon, La Femme, Hairspray, Celia Garcia, Don Gold, Richard’s Salon, Jo Isola, Virgin Vie, Paul Cosquieri, John Culatto, Gino Sanguinetti, Karl Ullger & Hollie Buhagiar.

A special thank you to 10 year old Katie Hammond for making and selling the beautiful bracelets.

LUNAR WALK A HUGE SUCCESS - THANK YOU!


Lunar Walk 2011	Lunar Walk 2010	Lunar Walk 2009	Lunar Walk 2008

Click the images to see the albums

THANK YOU PRESS RELEASE - LUNAR WALK AN EVEN BIGGER SUCCESS THAN LAST YEAR!! !!

What a fantastic night we had on Friday 2st, THANK YOU GIBRALTAR!! Just over 1,000 of you took part in the Lunar Walk (300 more than last year) and helped in one way or another. Well done everyone for all your efforts, it is not easy staying up on Friday after a long week at work/home! As with every year, we are always humbled by all of you who participated as you really wanted to be there with us, there was a lovely atmosphere of support and kindness.

Your outfits, home-made t-shirts and bras and underpants were absolutely fabulous; thank you especially to the Bland Group for creating and selling t-shirts for us.

Many of you have made the Lunar Walk possible this year, and we'd like to thank you: On the run up to the Lunar Walk: Rob Parker for sorting out our website; Saverland for our discounted glow-sticks; the Chronicle for the 100 daily adverts of the Lunar Walk; Pete Baldachino for the fabulous artwork of the poster; the local magazines for the free advertising and the press for the promotion and articles; BFBS and GBC for their excellent promotion of the event. 55 private members club for promoting the walk and raising money on the night and Francis Lopez from Gibtelecom for the printed route maps.

For making it work at Casemates: LPS for allowing us to use Casemates; Cafe Solo for the tables and chairs and Tony and Rachael for looking after us at 2am; Guy Povedano and Saccone & Speed for the bottles of water, you are so reliable. And especially to those who volunteered and helped us on the night to set-up/pack up, register participants, sell t-shirts, collect donations, give out glow-sticks, hand out water, hand out chocolates and generally look after the public, we love you all: Pat, Janine, Francesca, Helen, Jamie, Simon, Alex, Katie, Karen, Delia, Gaby, Selena, Marc, Lizanne, Natasha, Kamyl, Jeffery (***DEREK INCLUDE HERE NAMES OF OTHER PCSGG HELPERS, BUT NOT COMMITTEE MEMBERS as we sign off at bottom****) and our fabulous husbands and wives Pepe, Jimmy, Nathan, Walu and Trevor (DEREK INCLUDE NAMES OF WIVES WHO HELPED**).

A very special thank you to all our beautiful Miss Gibraltar 2011, Miss Gibraltar 2011 participants and past Miss Gibraltar’s who participated and still looked gorgeous.

Finally, thank you to Miss Gibraltar 2011, Michelle Gillingwater Pedersen, her fellow contestants and past Miss Gibraltar’s (still looking gorgeous) for joining us and supporting our Walk; to Edwin Reyes, Fabian Vinent, Fabian Picardo and Haresh Budrahni (and partners) for supporting our Walk!

On the Walk itself: thank you Dion Hammond and Jonathan Trinidad, our freelance photographers. For the marshalling, thank you ‘young’ men of the Round Table, Alan Montegriffo and his Army cadets and the Air Cadets for showing walkers the way. Thanks to the MOD and Station Commander Jim for supporting the event, without which the Lunar Walk would have not happened; RAF Gibraltar and Trevor & NATS ATC for letting us use the Airfield; the Defence Fire Service, JPSU and the GDP for allowing us on the runway and keeping an eye on us. Thank you to the Royal Gibraltar Police for their patience and traffic control (despite the road works) and St John's Ambulance for leading us and looking after us.

At the end, back at Casemates: To Christopher Wall from ‘Alimentana’ for his kind donation of Blue Riband chocolates to all the walkers and the Royal Gibraltar Regiment for lending us the wooden posts and roping.

Thank you again Gibraltar, we are constantly impressed by your support, love and encouragement.

Big hugs and kisses xxxxxx

Breast Cancer Support Gibraltar and Prostate Cancer Support Group Gibraltar committees

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS